A tornado west of Tatum, New Mexico. [Courtesy Jim Morrison, KM5BS]
An NWS radar image March 23 showing the track of tornados across Clovis, which is just to the right of dead center. The most severe weather is displayed in red. [Courtesy of Alf Lindsey, W5ALL]
"The teamwork by the ARES teams, support from the surrounding county emergency managers, the NWS forecasts and real-time radar support, WA5IHL's Mega-Link [repeater system] and numerous SKYWARN observations saved lives," Jay Miller, WA5WHN, observed. During the weather emergency, Amateur Radio volunteers relayed real-time weather information to NWS offices in Albuquerque and in Midland, Texas.
After Chaves County District Emergency Coordinator Alf Lindsey, W5ALL, took note of darkening skies early Friday afternoon, he opened a SKYWARN. More than 30 hams in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas relayed their weather observations through the net to the Albuquerque NWS office. Robert Tice, W5TIC, reported in with a tornado spotting west of Tatum at about 5 PM. Jim Morrison, KM5BS, observed a large tornado on the ground just south of Roosevelt County at about 5:45 PM. That prompted the first of many tornado warnings for the counties along the Texas-New Mexico state line.
The city of Clovis was especially hard hit. "We have always trained for a single tornado, but not eight of them at the same time," Blaine Smith, KB5UOT, in Clovis commented afterward. The NWS issued the first tornado warning for Clovis at about 7:30 PM, and a tornado struck the city about 15 minutes later. Saundra Creiglow, KC5EGP, handled net control duties in Clovis as the storms approached. The Eastern New Mexico Amateur Radio Club had three teams operating in and around Clovis before and after the twisters.
Using the KK5OV EchoLink node, hams in Clovis established a backup connection with Jory McIntosh, KJ5RM, at the Fort Worth National Weather Service Office. McIntosh was able to pinpoint the exact course destructive tornados that hit the city.
The New Mexico State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Bernalillo County EOC activated. During the tornados, however, the state EOC lost contact with Clovis, Logan, Texico, Carlsbad, and Portales. Sandoval County DEC Mike Scales, K5SCA, was able to relay information from hams in tornado-stricken areas to the state EOC via the state-wide Mega-Link repeater system. Scales also kept the state EOC up to speed on localized flooding in Carlsbad.
The American Red Cross requested Amateur Radio assistance to staff shelters in Logan and Clovis. John English, WB6QKF, was on the air from the Albuquerque Red Cross office to assist in setting up those shelters.
The tornados carved a 4.5 mile swath across Clovis. Thirty-five residents were injured badly enough to need hospitalization. In Logan, two-dozen mobile homes were destroyed. Tatum experienced four tornados in the span of a half-hour. Electrical power and telephone outages were reported. Interstate 70 was shut down between Portales and Clovis.
More severe weather popped across eastern New Mexico and western Texas over the weekend. Spotters were active early March 25 near Lubbock, Texas, as possible tornados were reported. Showers and thunderstorms were in this week's forecast for West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. -- New Mexico PIO Charlie Christman, K5CEC, and other reports
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